Denison welcomes first large-scale uranium mine approval in more than 20 years
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has issued a licence to Denison Mines Corp to prepare a site for and construct its Phoenix mine at the Wheeler River uranium project.
Denison said Phoenix is the first uranium mine in Canada to be approved for in-situ recovery (ISR) mining and is the first large-scale Canadian uranium mine approved for construction in more than 20 years.
The proposed facility is a uranium mine and mill in the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, approximately 600 km north of the city of Saskatoon.
The CNSC said that in making its decision, it considered all submissions and perspectives received during a two-part public hearing.
The licence is valid until 28 February 2031 and authorises site preparation and construction activities under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. The licence does not authorise the operation of the facility. That would be subject to a future commission licensing hearing and decision, should Denison submit a licence application.
Denison is proposing to develop an ISR uranium mining and milling operation at the Phoenix deposit at Wheeler River. The project would produce up to 5,400 tonnes of uranium oxide annually for up to 15 years.
Wheeler River is the largest undeveloped uranium project in the infrastructure-rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region. The project is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, discovered by Denison in 2008 and 2014, respectively, and is a joint venture between operator Denison (90%) and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (10%).
Denison said earlier this week it had awarded Wood Canada Ltd the construction management contract to oversee the building of the Phoenix project.
ISR involves processing the uranium while it is still in the ground through the injection of catalysing agents into the ore.
ISR is only possible in porous geological formations like sandstone which are amenable to such a technique. On average, the capital spend needed to put an ISR uranium project into production is less than 15% of the cost to build a conventional hard-rock uranium mine.
Apart from the production cost, ISR leaves a much smaller environmental footprint because it does not require the construction of a tailings impoundment facility. Denison is aiming to be the first company to deploy the ISR method at a uranium project in Canada.
